So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers: This is the first time chapter 16 mentions that the censers were made of bronze. Good News Translation omits this idea here, but has included it in verse 37. The Hebrew term rendered bronze means both “bronze” and “copper,” but “bronze” is probably what is intended here. Copper is a reddish metal, and bronze is a man-made alloy (compound) of copper and tin (and sometimes other elements).

Which those who were burned had offered refers to the 250 chieftains who were burned to death. The Hebrew verb rendered were burned comes from the same root as the noun translated “blaze” in verse 37 (see the comments there). Offered renders the Hebrew verb hiqrib (see verse 38 and 9.7). The past perfect verb had offered in English indicates that these rebels presented their censers before they were burned. In languages that do not have this verbal form, translators may need to put these two verbs in chronological order by rendering this clause as “which those men presented before they were burned up.” This clause repeats what has been said already to highlight the sin of the rebels and their awful punishment. Good News Translation omits this clause. However, if such repetition is used for emphasis in a language, it should be kept.

And they were hammered out as a covering for the altar: See verse 38.

To be a reminder to the people of Israel is literally “a reminder to the people of Israel” (see verse 38 for a similar expression). Good News Translation says “This was a warning to the Israelites.” There is no verb here in the Hebrew text. This phrase is in apposition to a covering for the altar, which New Revised Standard Version conveys by using a long dash before it and saying “a reminder to the Israelites.” New Revised Standard Version is more accurate here than Revised Standard Version or Good News Translation by keeping the appositional construction. In some languages such a construction will make the narrative more vivid.

So that no one who is not a priest, who is not of the descendants of Aaron …: The Hebrew has no past tense verbs here. The text primarily addresses Israelites at a time when there were still Aaronite priests, and this should be clear from the translation as well. So we do not recommend Good News Translation‘s rendering here, which is “that no one who was not a descendant of Aaron….” Who is not a priest is literally “stranger/foreigner/outsider” (see 3.10, where the Hebrew word here is rendered “any one else”). The Hebrew word for descendants is literally “seed” (see 14.25). New Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew more closely for this whole clause by saying “that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron…” (similarly New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). Another possible model is “that no one except a descendant of Aaron…” (New International Version).

Should draw near to burn incense before the LORD: Draw near may be rendered “approach” (NET Bible) or “come forward” (Revised English Bible). Good News Translation specifies the place by saying “come to the altar.” The Hebrew words for burn and incense come from the same root meaning “smoke.” For incense and before the LORD, see verse 7.

Lest he become as Korah and as his company: Chewa says “lest similar things befall him as befell Korah….” Good News Translation begins a new sentence here, saying “Otherwise he would be destroyed like Korah…,” and so does New Living Translation with “If anyone did, the same thing would happen to him as happened to Korah….” For the Hebrew word rendered company (ʿedah), see verse 5.

As the LORD said to Eleazar through Moses is literally “just as the LORD said by the hand of Moses to him,” which NET Bible renders “just as the LORD had spoken by the authority of Moses.” It will often be more natural to start a new sentence here, as in Good News Translation, which says “All this was done as the LORD had commanded Eleazar through Moses.” Some translations place this clause at the beginning of verse 40, treating it as a logical continuation of verse 39; for example, New Century Version renders verses 39-40 as follows:

• 39 So Eleazar the priest gathered all the bronze pans that had been brought by the men who were burned up. He had the pans hammered into flat sheets to put on the altar, 40 as the LORD had commanded him through Moses. These sheets were to remind the Israelites that only descendants of Aaron should burn incense before the LORD. Anyone else would die like Korah and his followers.

Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .